In addition to the Radeon R7 300 graphics card which should hold the entry-level fort, the Radeon R9 380 for the mid-range market segment and the flagship Fury lineup, AMD's higher-end lineup will be represented by rebranded Radeon R9 290 series, which got a slightly higher clocks and more memory.

While the Radeon R9 390 series might be based on the same Hawaii GPU as the Radeon R9 290 series, now called the Grenada GPU, it did get some improvements in terms of more memory as well as faster GPU and memory clocks.

Based on 28nm manufacturing process, the Grenada GPU is based on AMD's Graphics Core Next 1.1 architecture and in the case of the Radeon R9 390X, packs 2816 Stream Processors, 176 Texture Units and 64 ROPs, just like the Radeon R9 290X.

The Radeon R9 390 is based on a cut-down version, now called the Grenada Pro GPU, and packs 2560 Stream Processors in 40 Compute Units, 160 Texture Units and same 64 ROPs.

In order to justify the rebranding, AMD has equipped both members of the Radeon R9 390 series with 8GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at slightly higher 1500MHz (6.0GHz effective). The memory is still paired up with a 512-bit memory interface for a memory bandwidth of up to 384 GB/s. The TDP on both graphics cards is set at 275W and they both need 6+8-pin PCI-Express power connectors.

As noted, the memory is not the only one that got a slight overclock as the GPU on the R9 390X got raised to up to 1050MHz while the R9 390 will end up working at up to 1000MHz.

With the price set at US $429, AMD puts the R9 390X somewhere between the Geforce GTX 970 and the GTX 980 while the Radeon R9 390, with US $329 price tag, should be a decent competition for the GTX 970.

While AMD markets the R9 390 series as affordable graphics card for 4K/UHD gaming, you will be far from maximum settings on such high resolution, but you certainly be able to max out any game at 1440p.

What is quite interesting is that you can actually find some lower clocked Radeon R9 290X graphics card, based on the same GPU, in major retail/e-tail shops priced at around €380 or so, which makes them quite a deal, at least until the stock is cleared.

It appears that AMD might place a US $389 MSRP on the upcoming Radeon R9 390X graphics card, at least according to latest rumors.

While it is already pretty clear that R9 390X will be based on an enhanced Hawaii XT GPU, same one that was behind the R9 290X graphics card but with slightly higher clocks and 8GB of memory, it is still not clear what will AMD do with R9 390 graphics card, as this one could be either reserved for Hawaii Pro GPU, or precisely, the rebranded Radeon R9 290, or for Hawaii XT R9 290X with 4GB of memory.

With Nvidia launching its newest game bundle, it is time for AMD to up the ante by bundling some of its Radeon 200 series graphics cards with Grand Theft Auto 5 and DiRT Rally games.

Soon after Nvidia has announced its own Two Times The Adventure bundle, which bundles The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt and Batman: Arkham Knight with Geforce GTX 900 series graphics cards, it was time for AMD to up introduce new game bundles for its Radeon 200 series graphics cards.

According to what can be seen on Newegg.com, all graphics cards from Radeon R9 270 and up will get DiRT Rally, while most Radeon R9 290 and R9 290X graphics card will be also coming with GTA 5 as well. It also appears that this bundle is limited to certain AMD AIB partners, or even to certain retailers/e-tailers.

Currently, Sapphire's R9 280X, which sells for US $209.99 after a US $20 mail-in rebate, gets both games and is quite a catch. In case you are looking for a Hawaii-based graphics card with FreeSync support, there are plenty of Radeon R9 290X and R9 290 graphics cards listed with the same bundle on Newegg.com.

The flagship dual-GPU Radeon R9 295 X2 is surprisingly only bundled with DiRT Rally, but it might have something to do with AMD push to clear Radeon stock for the upcoming launch.

There is still no official confirmation for the bundle from AMD but we will probably hear about it soon enough.

Sapphire has unveiled the latest member of the Vapor-X OC lineup, the Radeon R9 290 Vapor-X OC graphics card. Based on the same 28nm Hawaii GPU with 2560 Stream Processors, the new Sapphire R9 290 Vapor-X OC features a hefty factory overclock as well as the new Vapor-X cooler.

The new Sapphire R9 290 Vapor-X OC works at 1030MHz for the GPU and comes equipped with 4GB of GDDR5 memory running at 1400MHz (5.6GHz effective). As a part of Sapphire's high-end Vapor-X OC lineup, the new graphics card combines the new Vapor-X cooler as well as the new Power Control circuitry, or precisely, the new VRM Engine which uses Digital Power control and features the new Aero6 VRM design with 6-phase Direct-FET power for the GPU, memory and control circuitry. It also comes with Sapphire Black Diamond chockesy as well as highly reliable solid electrolyte capacitors.

The new triple fan, dual slot Vapor-X cooler combines Sapphire Vapor-X technology with Sapphire's Tri-X structure which uses five heatpipes and three fans. The main 10mm heatpipe is complemented with two 8mm and two 6mm heatpipes in order to ensure maximum heat distribution, while three 90mm fans should keep the main heatsink well cooled. According to Sapphire, the new R9 290 Vapor-X OC should be between 5 and 10 degrees cooler than with Tri-X technology alone.

Design wise, the new R9 290 Vapor-X OC features black/blue color scheme and features LED illuminated Sapphire logo located on the side of the card which will change from blue when the card is cool, to yellow and red when it heats up. The R9 290 Vapor-X OC also features Dual BIO option and comes with two DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs.

Unfortunately, Sapphire did not reveal any details regarding the price but did note that the Sapphire R9 290 Vapor-X OC is shipping now and will be available from usual Sapphire etailers and retailers.

Club 3D has announced the latest members of its PokerSeries, the Club 3D Radeon R9 290X royalAce and the R9 290 royalAce. Based on a custom design and featuring Club 3D's own custom cooler, both new royalAce graphics cards will pack a decent factory overclock.

Both are based on AMD's well known Hawaii GPU, the Club 3D R9 290X royalAce packs 2816 Stream processors and works at up to 1050MHz for GPU while 4GB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 512-bit memory interface was set to work at 5400MHz. The R9 290 royalAce on the other hand works at up to 1040MHz for the GPU while 4GB of GDDR5 memory remained at the same 5400MHz.

As expected, Club 3D decided to use its own CoolStream dual-slot triple-fan cooler on both of these new royalAce graphics cards and it should keep the both GPUs well cooled judging from that massive heatsink placed behind the shroud.

Unfortunately, Club 3D did not reveal any details regarding the price or the actual availability date.

PowerColor has launched what appears to be the fastest non-reference R9 290 card on the market. Although the 290X gets all the fame, we believe Hawaii Pro products offer a slightly better price/performance ratio and with a nice custom cooler they look even more tempting.

The PowerColor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ features a triple-fan PCS+ cooler which is not even in the same league as the reference AMD cooler. Better yet, it features the highest factory overclock of any Hawaii Pro card on the market today. The GPU clock stands at 1040MHz, on par with Gigabyte’s Radeon WindForce 3X, but the memory is clocked at 1350MHz, which is 50MHz to 100MHz faster than factory overclocked R9 290 cards from Sapphire, XFX and Gigabyte.

This bumps the bandwidth up to 346GB/s, which is about 10 percent more than you’d get on a reference card, or even a reference 290X for that matter.

The card does not appear to feature the Battlefield 4 bundle, but then again early listings put it at about €375, which is cheaper than most non-reference cards. Furthermore it ends up about €100 cheaper than the average 290X. Not bad, not bad at all.

Sapphire has slapped its trademark Tri-X triple fan cooler on AMD’s latest Hawaii flagships, resulting in a couple of very interesting non-reference R9 290 series cards. Both cards feature the same cooler, dual BIOS and a factory overclock.

The R9 290X Tri-X boasts a GPU clock of up to 1040MHz, while the memory has been bumped up to 1300MHz. The reference clocks are 1000MHz/1250MHz, so the factory overclock is not that big, but hopefully the triple-fan cooler will allow for more overlocking headroom.

The wallet friendly R9 290 ended up with a similar overclock. The GPU clock is now 1000MHz, up from 947MHz, while the memory is clocked at 1300MHz, up from 1250MHz on reference cards. Depending on the retail price, it could be a very interesting alternative to the 290X, which is usually the case with AMD’s Pro versions of flagship products.

Sapphire says its Tri-X coolers employ fans with dust repelling bearings and aerofoil section blades to deliver highly efficient airflow at low noise levels. The fan cowling is designed to ensure the airflow is routed across the hottest areas of the card.

The actual retail price of the cards has not been announced yet. However, Sapphire says the cards are in production and they will be available soon. Specially packaged models with a Battlefield 4 promotion code will also be available.

Just a few days after they had been officially teased at a press event in Japan, NCIX.com has listed both the MSI R9 290X Gaming and the R9 290 Gaming custom graphics cards that will feature MSI's own TwinFrozr IV Advanced cooler as well as the custom PCB.

According to a rather poor specification list at NCIX.com, both the R9 290X Gaming OC and the R9 290 Gaming OC will both feature a slight factory overclock, putting them at 1040MHz for the R9 290X Gaming OC and 1000MHz for the R9 290 Gaming OC. The pictured PCB shows that MSI did not change much from AMD's reference design, at least in terms of layout, but it did change some components including the memory chips and chokes. The 4GB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 512-bit memory interface on both graphics cards remained at reference 5GHz.

As expected, both use the same MSI TwinFrozr IV Advanced cooler with red and black color scheme. MSI also included a backplate that should additionaly improve the rigidity of the R9 290(X) Gaming graphics cards.

AMD’s new Radeon R9 series graphics cards are in short supply and it looks like the prices are going up. At Newegg, for example, cards like the 280x that originally sold for $299 are now priced as high as $379 to $399 while the 290 debuted at $399 and now sells for upwards of $499. Newegg is one of the few vendors that currently have cards in stock.

Now it is not clear why the cards are doing that well. Some of it might be supply and demand. There is a short supply so the value of the cards goes up. The cards were just announced back in September and hit retail not all that long ago. If you do not want something from Nvidia it is a good bet.

It is also unclear how many cards AMD sent to retailers. In the event that supply was short to begin with, this could help explain why we are seeing the cards out of stock at most places and with inflated prices elsewhere.

There is a rumour circulating that the reason for the boom on the cards is because they are good at mining Litecoins. Litecoins can still be somewhat efficiently mined by the average Joe but are happier with processing power from GPUs. This makes higher-end Radeon R9 series cards one of the best available for the job. ASICs now dominate bitcoin mining and GPUs can no longer be used to mine bitcoin in a cost-effective way.

AMD got a lot of flak last month, after it emerged that some Radeon R9 290X press samples were routinely outperforming retail cards. The issue was traced back to the PowerTune mechanism, which delivered different results on different cards.

“We have implemented an all new PowerTune mechanism in the AMD Radeon R9 290 series that exploits the full capability of the individual GPUs rather than clamping performance to a least-common-denominator type of capability level. This has the advantage of improving overall performance but does result in some degree of performance variability. These changes will also result in some degree of run-to-run test variability based on environmental and operational conditions in un-controlled test environment,” said AMD.

AMD pointed out that the performance differential is not expected to change the user experience, but admitted that the degree of variability was higher than expected.

“Reasonably we would expect the variability to occur both above and below the performance of the press samples, however it appears that most reported performances are biased towards the low side. We are actively investigating these reports and we will update when we have completed our investigation,” said AMD.

AMD stressed that the more the thermally limited the setting is, the more variation can occur. As a result, AMD implemented comprehensive PowerTune controls within the OverDrive panel of the Catalyst Control Centre, allowing users to tweak PowerTune settings and balance acoustics and performance according to their own desires.